A hilly stage was held today at the Oberösterreich Rundfahrt. The difficulty of the stage, in addition to the circuit and the constant ups and downs, was mainly the short wall just before the finish.
Team United Shipping was not part of the breakaway. The advantage of the 6-man group approached 6 minutes, but the breakaway was caught only on the last lap. Within the last 10 kilometers, several main contenders attacked. The winning move was started by Edgar David Cadena. The Mexican’s advantage was only around 10 seconds for kilometers, but the group could not catch the Petrolike rider. Second place was taken by Aaron Dockx from the Alpecin development, while Bálint Feldhoffer finished the stage in third place. He retains second place in the general classification.
Zsombor Palumby about today’s stage and what to expect on Sunday:
“Today the plan was to send Barni (Barnabas Morócz) into the breakaway, but the breakaway didn’t form. At the beginning of the stage there was a 6 kilometer mountain, where we paced at the front with Veljko (Stojnić). After the KOM there were several attacks, some even broke away, but with Bálint on my wheel we brought the peloton together. It was a tough 20 minutes. About tomorrow: besides the prologue, this is the other stage that suits Bálint very well. This climb is longer than Kékes, but it’s even more favorable for him. We want to help Bálint on the big hill, we will give our best for him. Based on the previous races, he has the legs to win the GC.”
Bálint after Saturday:
“At the end I had to go on full gas, the last climb was especially difficult on the third pass. I wasn’t at the front, I had to jump up to the main group. It took a lot of my energy. The Mexican guy was very strong, we tried to work together, but we were already tired as well. I don’t know the tomorrow mountain finish, only what I saw from the GPS. The legs will decide, you can’t make plans much in advance.”
📷Photos: Schöff Gergely